「アンデスの奇跡」　墜落事故の生存者が死去

【モンテビデオＡＦＰ＝時事】１９７２年に南米アンデス山脈で起きた航空機墜落事故の生存者１６人の一人、ウルグアイ人のホセ・ルイス・インシアルテさんが２７日、首都モンテビデオの自宅で亡くなった。７５歳。インシアルテさんの友人がＡＦＰに明らかにした。「アンデスの奇跡」とも呼ばれる事故から救出までの様子は、映画『生きてこそ』などにも描かれている。（写真は事故の追悼式典に参列するインシアルテさん〈左から２人目〉、２００２年チリのサンティアゴにて）
　インシアルテさんらアマチュア・ラグビーチームの選手とその家族は１９７２年１０月１３日、試合に出場するため航空機でチリに向かっていた。
　航空機の墜落直後は乗員乗客４５人のうち３３人が生存していた。しかし、墜落現場は標高約３５００メートルのアンデス山中で、氷点下３０度の寒さの中、一行は食料も避難場所も、防寒具さえもなかった。厳しい環境の中、約７０日後に生還したのはわずか１６人だった。
　生存者は生き延びるため、亡くなった仲間の遺体を食べざるを得なかった。
　最終的には生存者のうち若者２人、ロベルト・カネッサさんとフェルナンド・パラードさんが１０日間、山中をさまよい歩き、ついに川沿いで住民を見つけ、救助を呼ぶことに成功した。
　この救出劇は、ハリウッドによって映画化されたほか、パラードさんによる書籍も出ている。
　カネッサさんは２７日、ＡＦＰの取材に対し、がんで亡くなったインシアルテさんについて「われわれは友人を失った」とコメント。墜落事故後、最終的に助かった１６人のうち「すでに１人亡くなっており、今では１４人になった」と述べた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/07/31-16:57）

Uruguayan Jose Luis Inciarte, one of 16 survivors of a 1972 Andean plane crash immortalized in the film Alive, died in his home city of Montevideo Thursday aged 75, a friend told AFP.
Inciarte, known fondly as Coche, was part of an amateur Uruguayan rugby team flying to play a match in Chile, accompanied by family members, when their plane crashed on October 13, 1972.
Thirty-three of the 45 on board survived the initial impact, but only 16 were left after an ordeal of ten weeks on an Andean glacier without food, shelter, or even warm clothes in minus 30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) at an altitude of some 3,500 meters.
The survivers had to resort to eating the flesh of their dead comrades to stay alive.
Rescue finally came after two of the young men -- Roberto Canessa and Fernando Parrado -- walked for 10 days into the unknown, hostile terrain, finally spotting people at a river as they were close to their end.
The story of survival became known as the Miracle in the Andes.
- 'Now we are 14' -
We lost a friend, Canessa told AFP Thursday of Inciarte's death from cancer.
We already lost Javier (Methol), and now we are 14 left over from the 16 who returned home after the crash, he said.
Methol died in 2015 aged 79, also from cancer.
In 2012, on a trip to Santiago to commemorate the 40-year-anniversary of the accident, Inciarte reflected on the experiences that marked his life in comments to AFP.
With the passage of time, the anguish, the suffering, the pain of the cold that gnaws at the skin, gave way to hope, to a story of survival, solidarity and friendship, he said at the time.
Inciarte had gone on to become an agricultural entrepreneur.
Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona, who made a film about the Andes survival story -- entitled Society of the Snow and due to premier in Venice in September -- bid farewell to his friend Inciarte on Instagram.
Today Jose Luis 'Coche' Inciarte left for good, after life gifted him an extension of more than fifty years. As far as I know, he used it well, Bayona wrote.
A life like his is worth four of ours!
Author Pablo Vierci, who wrote the book the new movie is based on, told AFP Inciarte had been a good man who on the mountain propped up those whose spirits were failing.
He gave the impression that he was not afraid of death, said Vierci.